MLK50 Youth Convening

Our Time, Our Voice
An MLK50 Youth ConveningNov. 10, 2017

In partnership with the National Civil Rights Museum’s MLK50 Commemoration, BRIDGES will host Our Time, Our Voice: a powerful convening of high school youth from across the region who will engage in experiential learning activities to develop and amplify youth voice and promote the Youth Voices platform for MLK50.

Student registration for Our Time, Our Voice is now open!

Meet Our Keynote Speakers

Xiuhtezcatl MartinezXiuhtezcatl (that’s ‘Shoe-Tez-Caht’) is a 17-year-old indigenous climate activist, hip-hop artist and author who’s also a lead plaintiff in the youth-led environmental class action suit against the federal government. He’s the Youth Director of Earth Guardians, and his work has been featured on PBS, Showtime, National Geographic, Rolling Stone, Upworthy, Aljazeera, The Guardian, CNN, MSNBC, HBO, VICE, and many more.

Check out Xiuhtezcatl’s recent interview on Real Time with Bill Maher:

DJ Cavem Moetavation

DJ Cavem, aka Chef Ietef, is an environmental hip-hop artist and activist focused on food justice, gang intervention, race and politics, organic gardening and graffiti art. He was recently featured on The Rachel Ray Show, and is a founder of Going Green Living Bling, and co-founder of Culinary Concerts and one of the first O.G.s (organic gardeners) at the GrowHaus in Denver. For the past decade, DJ Cavem has been using his music as a platform to educate and spark conversations around environmental and food justice issues.

Check out DJ Cavem’s single Wheat Grass:

Convening Schedule:

8:00 – 8:45 Registration and grab-and-go breakfast

8:45 – 9:00 Opening Ceremony

9:00 – 10:00 Keynote Address

10:15-11:45 Workshop Session 1 (14-16 concurrent sessions)

12:00-1:00 Lunch

1:15- 2:45 Workshop Session 2 (14-16 concurrent sessions)

3:00- 3:45 “Where do we go from here?” Closing Ceremony with Final Speaker (includes evaluation)

Youth workshops will be interactive and participatory and include practical learning around youth voice. The goal of these experiences is to educate, not persuade, participants on a particular issue or point of view. These exchanges are designed to give youth an opportunity to ask questions and learn more deeply, and to encourage students to become more involved and active in the community on their chosen social justice issues.